Laboratory tests are ordered for a number of reasons. For example, healthcare providers order laboratory tests to be performed for a patient in a healthcare environment. Examples of these tests include analyzing fluid or bodily tissue, such as blood or urine. A fluid or tissue sample is taken from a patient and sent to a laboratory to be tested. One or more instruments within the laboratory perform ordered tests on the sample. The instrument performs the test and provides an electronic message of the test results.
The test results are verified using a decision process to determine what is normal or otherwise acceptable for a test result for a patient. For example, verification may determine whether the test result is within a predetermined range that is considered to be acceptable for that type of laboratory test. Previously, a technologist or clinician in the laboratory verified laboratory test results. This process was time consuming and prone to human error.
Other systems have attempted to automate the decision process and verify laboratory test results electronically. The systems evaluate each result individually against predefined decision rules to determine if the result should be released by the system for clinical use. However, these systems are unable to evaluate multiple test results from the same order that are routed to different instruments, testing stations or modular instruments. The laboratory test result messages coming from different instruments may be related to one order. These systems cannot determine if the entire set of laboratory test results satisfies the predefined verification rules prior to releasing the test results. Thus, since laboratory test results can only be evaluated within the context of an individual laboratory test result, some results may be automatically verified even though subsequent related laboratory test results have information that would cause all the results in the set or order to fail automatic verification. Furthermore, these systems cannot automatically verify multiple test results received from multiple areas of modular laboratory instruments.
It would be beneficial to be able to hold laboratory test results from a set or group until all of the laboratory test results for the set or group have been received so that the results as a group may be compared to the predefined auto-verification rules and auto-verified.